Permanent home Medic 105’s new lease on life-saving

Sussex County Council Vice President Sam Wilson and Council President Michael Vincent perform ribbon-cutting honors during the July 28 grand opening for the new home for Sussex County Paramedic Station 105.

OCEAN VIEW – Sussex County Emergency Medical Services’ paramedic coverage for the southeastern coastal area has a permanent home.

With sincere thanks to the owners of Roxana Road property that served as Medic 105’s leased home for more than two decades, County officials last Tuesday christened the new Medic 105 station.

It’s located on county-owned land that houses the South Coastal Wastewater Treatment facility in the neighborhood of the sprawling Bear Trap Dunes development.

“It is a better overall location,” said Sussex County EMS Director Bob Stuart. “It is closer to the current calls for service. We think it is strategically located for the growth of this area.”

It is Sussex County’s third station built specifically for use as a paramedic base facility, joining Medic 102 in Laurel in 2009, and Medic 106 in Long Neck in 2013.

Medic 105, however, has an additional third bay – earmarked for Medic 109, utilized in the summer tourist season.

County Administrator Todd Lawson acknowledged County Council for its vision and support and the collaborative effort that included the County’s engineering and IT departments as well as finance department, from where a suggestion from Deputy Finance Director Kathy Roth got the wheels turning for this county-owned property venture.

“I have got to give credit to the finance department because when we were actually thinking about the next station to build and where to build it, it was Kathy Roth’s idea to come up with a co-location on this facility on land the county already owned,” Mr. Lawson said. “Kudos to Kathy because you can imagine what acreage we need in this neighborhood would cost; so, great cost-savings for the County.”

From 1992 until this summer, Medic 105 was based in a facility through a lease agreement with Larry and Susan Kelly, who were presented a memento at the July 27 ribbon-cutting/grand opening ceremonies.

Sussex County Emergency Medical Services Director Bob Stuart presents a token of the County’s thanks to Larry and Susan Kelly, landlords who leased property that served as Medic 105’s station base for 23 years.

Mr. Stuart thanked the Kelly’s “for being such great landlords and landladies for the last 23 years.”

Prior to that, Medic 105 bases included the National Guard camp in Bethany and the Millville Fire Company.

Mr. Stuart said the new facility will help curb longer response time for the ever-growing high-volume area at beaches and meet increased need.

“Travel in this area was becoming more and more difficult for our crews,” Mr. Stuart said.

Statistically speaking, Mr. Stuart said there were approximately 7,000 calls in 1992, compared to about 21,000 calls currently. “It was three times what we were doing back then,” he said.

“Our citizens are very, very lucky,” said County Council president Michael Vincent, R-Seaford, adding he believes Sussex County has the best ambulance service/ paramedic service. “They do a great job.”

The next County-owned paramedic project in the works is Medic 104 in Rehoboth.

“We are going to continue this model of building stations that we own. Stay tuned for that,” Mr. Lawson said.

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